1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for wireless communication between a base station and a plurality of appliances which are configured or unconfigured for the communication channel, wherein the base station includes a normal mode of operation for communication with appliances which are found, in which synchronization signals are sent on a defined communication channel in a fixed time pattern, and two synchronization signals have at least one time range provided between them which has associated with it at least one of the appliances for transmitting an appliance telegram to the base station.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods are known for wireless communication between a base station and a plurality of appliance in a manner that relates to the normal mode of operation, where the appliances that are registered in the network send their appliance telegrams to the base station. There are different methods for ensuring that this communication occurs without interference, i.e., only one appliance ever sends its appliance telegram. Firstly, this can be achieved by virtue of the base station reserving a defined time range, the length and position of which between the two synchronization signals are known, for an appliance to send its appliance telegram. This means that this appliance is associated with a time range. Secondly, a time range may have a plurality of associated appliances.
In this context, additional known methods ensure that the appliance telegrams for a plurality of appliances are in this case sent in succession to ensure interference-free transmission. Appliances which are not yet connected to the network or registered can receive and listen to the synchronization signals from the base station or the appliance telegrams from the already registered appliances if they are operated, at least at this moment, in the listening mode on the relevant communication channel. This reception provides the unregistered appliance with an indication of the available network.
Thus, if relatively few appliance telegrams are transmitted, i.e., the activation of the network is low, it may take a very long time before an unregistered appliance receives an appliance telegram. Sometimes, only synchronization signals are available for this purpose. In order to receive these, however, the communication channel must again also correspond and the appliance must currently be operated in the listening mode, which has an increased energy requirement.